A Plan Alone Won’t Get You There. Here Are the Missing Pieces.

If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. It’s one of those cliché sayings we throw around to sound smart, but in many ways, it’s true.

When people are stretched thin and juggling too many priorities, the instinct is to regain control. A bit of structure. Some breathing space. Something to make things feel less chaotic. And planning often feels like the answer.

That’s why, when I start working with someone, the first step is usually building new systems. A weekly reset. A clearer calendar. Fewer decisions made on the fly. It helps. It creates space. It brings order back in.

But over time, I’ve seen that structure only works when it’s built on the right foundation. Because planning isn’t the starting point, and it’s definitely not the finish line.

If you’re planning without knowing what you’re truly working toward, you can still end up in the wrong place. You just get there faster.

That’s why when we want long-term, meaningful results, I always come back to the same 3P framework:  Picture. Plan. Perform.

Picture – What do you actually want?

This is the part that often gets overlooked, not because people don’t care, but because they’ve been running on autopilot for so long that pausing feels unfamiliar—even a little uncomfortable.

Most of the people I work with tell me a version of the same story: “I didn’t plan it this way, I just followed the opportunities as they came along.”

A new role opened, someone reached out, a promotion was offered, and they said yes. It felt like progress. But somewhere along the way, they stopped asking whether it was the kind of progress they actually wanted.

Without meaning to, they ended up building a career on other people’s timelines and expectations. And while everything might look right from the outside, something inside starts to whisper: This isn’t quite it.

That’s why this first step is so essential.

Before you plan, you need to pause. Not to overthink. Not to map your next 10 years, but to give yourself permission to picture what you actually want, without immediately filtering it through what’s “realistic.”

What would it look like if you stopped trying to be practical for just a moment? What kind of work would feel meaningful, energising, or simply more you?

You don’t need all the answers. But getting clearer on the direction changes everything.

Plan – Give it structure, gently

Once you have a sense of where you're heading, planning becomes something entirely different. It’s no longer about cramming more into your week or obsessing over tools and tactics—it’s about giving shape to your intention. Creating enough structure to move forward, while leaving space to breathe.

Planning well doesn’t mean filling your calendar.  It means protecting time for what matters most. It means making fewer decisions each day because you’ve already made the important ones. And it means being able to say no, not from guilt, but from clarity.

This might look like setting aside time for focused work, blocking moments for rest, or simply having a rhythm that supports your energy rather than drains it. You don’t need to be rigid. But you do need to be deliberate.

And that includes planning for the unplanned. Because the point of a plan isn’t to control everything, it’s to create enough clarity that you can adapt with confidence when things shift, as they inevitably will.

Planning isn't the magic solution. It's what holds the vision in place when things get noisy.

Perform – Where the real change lives

This is where it all comes together. Because having a vision and a plan is a great start, but the real thing happens in how you show up, not once or twice, but over time.

This is about what you do when the novelty wears off. When the plan doesn’t quite fit. When life throws a curveball and you’re not sure how to keep going.

Performance, in this context, isn’t about pushing harder or doing more.

It’s about developing habits that support you, showing up with consistency, and being willing to adapt when things don’t go as planned (and we already know they won’t).

It’s progress over perfection. It’s building the muscle of resilience quietly, one action at a time.

Because real progress isn’t only in the big wins, it’s built in how you show up on the ordinary days, when no one’s watching, and you choose to keep going anyway

Which part feels the hardest right now, Picture, Plan, or Perform?

Answering that simple question often solves more than any to-do list ever could.

I use this same framework to help people move forward with confidence. If you want to get clearer on where to focus your energy next, I’ve put together a quick reflection tool to guide you - feel free to explore it.

And if you want support to take the leap, check out my program here or just message me if you’d like to talk it through first.

With care,

Serena

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